Mobile devices such as handtrucks, carts and dollies are utilized to retain containers such as pails, tools, materials, and other items for use in connection with housework, construction, painting and electrical and/or mechanical repairs to a house, office, or other facilities.
Typical handtrucks having two wheels mounted on an axle with a rectangular surface are capable of receiving and retaining stacked items as the handtruck is moved about, for example, from a storage or unloading site to a work location. A handtruck can be used to transport a stack of five-gallon pails containing drywall compound, paint, liquid asphalt or other dense materials. However, such pails typically rest on and overhang the base of the handtruck in an insecure and unstable configuration when the truck is in an upright stopped position.
Dollies or wheeled carts with larger rectangular surfaces can receive boxes or pails positioned in a side-by-side relation. However, such configurations of boxes or pails typically require a large surface area, and this type of cart is not readily stored or moved about through close quarters. That is, the cart covers a large area, and so is not suited for storage in small closets when not in use.
Furthermore, handtrucks and carts known in the art are not readily adapted for retaining smaller tools and other hand-held items for ease of use. In the case of carts with large rectangular retaining baskets, the tools must be placed in the basket with other tools and/or boxes or pails. Accordingly, a user can be inconvenienced by the necessity of locating a desired tool from among the contents of the basket.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cart having a relatively small load-receiving area, or “foot print”, for ease of storage and that is capable of retaining hand-held tools so that they can be readily retrieved when needed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a cart having a compact construction which is only slightly larger than the diameter or base area of containers which it is adapted to receive and move about, and which is stable when at rest even with two or more containers stacked one upon the other.